I have never been invested in the Armenian genocide controversy. I understand why many people insist that America acknowledge the historical record, and I also understand why policymakers have historically balked when faced with threats of Turkish retaliation. When there are two defensible and opposing arguments on an issue, I generally don’t take a hard line even if I have a clear preference.
My preference will always be on the truth and for promoting human rights. For this reason, I agree with Daniel Fried that the Biden administration’s decision to finally acknowledge the genocide is the right one. As Fried explains, Turkey was given a prolonged a patient chance to take control of the narrative themselves by admitting what was done and reconciling with Armenia. They spurned it.
Truthfully, the argument for appeasing Turkey has been weakening as Erdogan’s time in power has moved Turkey away from its traditional close ties with America and towards a less secular and less-western outlook. It’s no longer clear what it is that Turkey offers that we’re afraid to jeopardize by being honest about the historical record.
Most of all, I’m just unsympathetic to Turkey’s position on the issue. It’s similar to how I feel about Americans who don’t want to reckon with our history of slavery and our decimation of the Native American population. I’ve never understood what is really gained by whitewashing history. America is not defined by the worst elements of its past, and Turkey is no different. Instead, the risk is that past sins continue to burden us because we won’t come to terms with them.
I don’t judge Turkey by what they did to the Armenians during World War One, but I do judge them by their lack of contrition and their bullying efforts to prevent their friends from stating the obvious.
There will be blowback, but I don’t think the blowback will last long or match the worrywarts’ worst fears.
Pretty much what I would say. I don’t judge Germany for it’s history to the extent they own it. Same for us, Turkey and every other country which has committed some for of genocide, ethnic cleansing or other atrocity. Which, by the way, is pretty much everyone. It’s sad that these things are so common, to the point where one could say they’re universal. But it is what it is. There’s a lot of neurological research on how humans are wired and why we’re so ethnocentric. Has to do with our long tribal prehistory. Shows up in a lot of ways.
It’s why we have empathy for those who remind us of ourselves. When people don’t remind us of ourselves, we tend to judge harshly and look for reasons why they’re responsible for their plight. Really, it’s as simple as that. When we lived in prehistoric tribes, there was a payoff for treating those within the tribe with kindness but seeing those outside the tribe as “other”. One was free to do pretty much anything to “the other” in most places at most times.
Thing is the world has gotten so much smaller that we can’t hurt each other without hurting ourselves. Plus we’re capable of a larger consciousness now that recognizes our underlying unity. Obama was always citing it; he begged people to get it. He’d quote “e pluribus unum”, Latin for “out of many, one”.
And that, by the way, has long been the core message of the world’s major religions too. It’s the fundamental principle of monotheism. One can no longer hold religion in a tribal way when there’s just one God.
Unfortunately, religions get institutionalized and as likely as any other institution to get caught in ethnocentrism. I grew up Jewish. There’s a long history of persecution against Jews and it’s against that backdrop that the “chosen people” narrative came to the fore. But a more core message is in the Shema, the ancient and central prayer of the religion, “Yud hey vav hey (the tetragamaton, the non-word for God) echod (oneness).” Or, to put it more plainly, “God is one” or God is oneness”. It’s the same message that Jesus carried when he spoke of loving one’s neighbor as oneself. It’s everywhere in Islam. In fact, go hang out with mainstream Muslims if you want an experience of a community in which there’s no racial caste system. But the unity principle is in all of the world’s major religions. It’s a shame so many who claim to be religious don’t get that.